My mate's view on A roads

[Banjo]

It all depends on the road .In many cases I find busy narrow laned b roads are frightening to ride on while wider A roads are fine apart from noise and fumes .

What really pisses me off is when a nice wide safe for cycling road gets narrowed to make room for a largely unused shared path that leaves cyclists using it vulnerable at junctions and when passing entrances to driveways.

 

[Welsh wheels]

[QUOTE 4698605, member: 9609"]The law is that no body should be paid in a way that encourages them to drive faster, so any load/tonnage bonus scheme has to be very questionable. Many tipper drivers now deny they are paid any bonus.

I think most lorries are driven very well and very carefully, but it just takes one idiot to kill you, and there are plenty idiots driving. I don't dismount for every one I see, but if I see a potential for conflict in that he may just try to squeeze by, and particularly if it is a tipper or logger (they are the worst round here) then I don't take any chance and get off. But then again I am on very quiet roads and will be seeing less than a vehicle a mile, so dismounting for a lorry may be once every 50 mile.[/QUOTE]
I pulled over for a tipper yesterday. Looked behind me and one was barrelling along behind me, trying to get some momentum up the hill I was about to climb.

 

[Banjo]

I have heard that some drivers are paid a "safety bonus" .

They get extra money for every load delivered without any accidents.

This of course is identical to the old productivity bonus which inevitably encourages speeding but avoids the accusation of doing just that.

Personally if on a long narrow stretch of road I will try to pull into a farm gate now and then to let motor traffic pass.Unless they try to intimidate me in which case hell would freeze over first.

 

[gbb]

Does he mean a dual carriageway?

I once cycled 5 miles to get a haircut and when talking to the hairdresser how far I'd travelled, she asked which way I got there....down the dual carriageway I replied.
But that's illegal...she replied.
No, it's fine....and legal, it's not a motorway.

Just illustrates how many people have no idea what the laws are.

 

[Drago]

And how many of these self appointed legal and safety experts have actually ridden a bike since they were 10?

 

[Spinney]

A lorry driver of many years told me in the transport industry aggregate lorry drivers are known for their, er, press on style of driving.

There are quite a few quarries around where I live (limestone country). I've never been hassled by a quarry truck - the occasional tractor or delivery wagon passes too close, yes (not to mention some of the nobbers in cars), but not the quarry ones. Mostly Cemex, though, who I think have a good reputation for being careful around cyclists?

 

[Paul139]

I hope he doesn't drive as he's evidently never read the Highway Code

The sad thing is many people don't read it as they buy practice dvd's for the Highway Code and hazard perception tests, and with multiple choice questions just bluff their way through.

 

[ColinJ]

There are quite a few quarries around where I live (limestone country). I've never been hassled by a quarry truck - the occasional tractor or delivery wagon passes too close, yes (not to mention some of the nobbers in cars), but not the quarry ones. Mostly Cemex, though, who I think have a good reputation for being careful around cyclists?

I did a big ride in 2007 from Hebden Bridge to Coventry via the Peak District. A few people mentioned to me before I went that quarry lorries could be a problem on the A6, but I found that actually ...



... they were cutting me up on the B-roads too!

 

[andrew_s]

The only stretch of A road that I drive regularly that I think it would be extremely dangerous to ride is the A1 going up towards Newark.

I have seen someone cycling there, with pretty much nose to tail traffic in both lanes, doing about 80.
Rather him than me.

This is the sort of A road I like (the A846)

 

[tallliman]

@andrew_s, that pic of the a846, dual carriageway with you on the wrong side of the central reservation....not sure that's strictly allowed

 

[al3xsh]

I regularly cycle on the a6 from ambergate / whatstandwell to bakewell and - despite the speed of the cars - I feel safer than a lot of the smaller roads. Mostly because there is tonnes of space and it's rare that I get anyone passing too close.

A

 

[KnackeredBike]

I regularly cycle on the a6 from ambergate / whatstandwell to bakewell and - despite the speed of the cars - I feel safer than a lot of the smaller roads. Mostly because there is tonnes of space and it's rare that I get anyone passing too close.

A

There is a road on my commute to work which is a busy but wide A-road. I cycle a good metre out from the edge line and almost never get close passes but see cyclists all the time riding in the gutter and getting very close passes. I wonder if they feel safer?

Call me a glutton for punishment but I think it's really important to ride on busy roads because, as at the start of the thread, if people don't cycle then it will quickly become that they shouldn't cycle or that they mustn't cycle and you start getting the rubbish with punishment passes and abuse.

 

[Gixxerman]

I drive on the A46 from Market Rasen to Lincoln (and back) on a daily basis. This is narrowish, single carriageway (60mph), twisty, rural trunk road that sees a lot of commuter traffic, HGV's and farm vehicles. I used to cycle on it occaisionally as a youth 35-odd years ago. However, I would not cycle on it now by choice. It is dangerous enough to drive on it let alone cycle it. I do see a few cyclists on it, and from my observations they are treated largely with utter contempt (close passes, overtaking on blind bends / crests, horn abuse). When driving on it and I hold back to pass cyclists correctly, I too am subjected to horn abuse and angry gestitulations. I would not recommend cycling on this road regardless of the legallity of it. It has a very poor record for incidents and fatalities. As others have said, this is down to the road users rather than the actual road.

 

[youngoldbloke]

I was amazed to see a cyclist on the stretch of the A42 linking the M42 to the M1. The only difference between the M42 and that stretch of the A42 being the lack of a hard shoulder. It has very few entry or exit points and is graded much like a motorway. While perfectly legal I imagine it would be the most unpleasant place to cycle, the noise level alone being unbearable.

 

[bonsaibilly]

If a dual carriage way wears a sign that meets signage laws and says no cycling, would that make cycling on the carriage way illegal?